Friday, April 10, 2009

Johnny Hart - Mangle Master

Johnny Hart used to do Sunday pages that were all about an excuse to mangle.Pure senseless violence.Maybe that's why my Mom didn't like B.C.She preferred Hi and Lois because it was "just like real life". She said I was exactly like Chip because I wouldn't clean my room and my hair was in my eyes.Maybe I would have liked Hi and Lois better if they had mangled Chip once in awhile.I love Hart's poses! Again, his crude finish makes you think he's not really doing anything, but these are very difficult poses to pull off.I wish I had the original color Sundays to post. Maybe if we're lucky, Ger will find 'em for us.

15 comments:

I think it's hilarious when they do such a big setup for the punchline like that. One guy sees an insect and then mercilessly beats an other guy half to death trying to kill it. When everything's said and done the bruised one passes out and everybody's like "What's up with him?"

Hey John, i just recently came across your blog and its been a great help to me in developing my style. I was just wondering if you had ever heard or seen anything by British cartoonists Leo Baxendale or Dudley D Watkins. They were praised for being influential in the world of British cartoons. Unfortunately I'm lacking in any source material to show you but i believe its worth checking out. Wouldn't mind knowing what you think. Thanks

Another cartoonist that loved to "mangle" was Howie Schneider, who did "Eek & Meek" for 35 years. The strip's style was similar to Hart's, only much more simpler (when it started, the characters were literally stick-figures)

That strip probably had the most extreme case of character design evolution. The characters started off as mice, then became a half-man/half-mice combo, before becoming human for the final 20 years of the strip's run.

I'd forgotten that strip! Thanks! (I really need to go out and recover some of the bits of me lost childhood.)

Sorry your mom didn't like the violent BC bits. One thing that I recall about my parents as opposed to those of so many others--they didn't give a rat's ass about what I read or looked at. As long as I was reading, that was the thing.